Cartoon Network Studios has announced the finalists for its first ever Storyboard Artist Training Programme. The Storyboard Artist Training Programme is a 12-week long paid course on the fundamentals of storyboarding, specifically for content formatted for television.

More than 2,000 people have applied for the training programme, but six artists were specifically chosen based on their artwork portfolio and their ability to express storytelling through the use of art. The Cartoon Network Storyboard Artist Training Programme forms part of Cartoon Network Studios Academy’s Artists Incubator Initiative, which was developed in response to growing industry demand for storyboard artists for children’s animation productions.

Starting next Monday (4th February) until 26th April, the six finalists will be taught storyboarding techniques, dialogue writing, gesture drawing and expressing physical comedy through the use of drawings. The six finalists will also get production experience with various in-house production crews and will be taught by special guest instructors including Matt Burnett and Ben Levin (creator of Craig of the Creek), Owen Dennis (creator of the upcoming series – Infinity Train), Julia Pott (creator of Summer Camp Island) and JG Quintel (creator of Regular Show and the upcoming TBS series – Close Enough).

The chosen six Storyboard Artist Training Programme finalists:

Marcy Bones

Marcy is a storyboard artist who has worked in indie games, comics, and animation. Recently, she had a comic featured in Stacked Deck Press’s all-trans comics anthology, We’re Still Here, and has completed storyboarding work with independent video game developer and publisher – WayForward Technologies. Marcy is also developing a television pitch, The Other Town. She graduated of Savannah College of Art and Design.

Jazzlyn Weaver

Jazzlyn is a 2D artist who specialises in storyboarding and visual development. Jazzlyn has worked as a storyboard artist for the Universal Phoenix Group, and as a 2D artist for EsianMail, where she gained experience in visual development, storyboards, character design, sound and editing. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Animation from Sam Houston State University, and attended the 2016 UCLA Film & Television Summer Institute where she obtained her Certificate of Completion, Creative Producing.

Christine Le

Christine graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Entertainment Art/Animation and a minor in Cinema and Television Arts. Christine previously was on Pixar’s Summer Story Intensive programme and also participated in Cartoon Network’s 2016 Animation Jam.

Alabaster Pizzo

While working for LA-based Shadowmachine Animation (known for its animation work on Robot Chicken, The Shivering Truth and Final Space), Alabaster completed backgrounds for Netflix’s upcoming Tuca and Bertie series. The New York’s School of Visual Arts graduate also previously worked as a storyboarder on Cartoon Network’s Summer Camp Island.

Brigitte Woltjen

Brigitte also attended New York’s School of Visual Art, she has worked as a freelance illustrator and created several of her own projects.

Miranda Harmon

Miranda has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and Art History from Maryland’s Goucher College. Miranda has worked as an illustrator, cartoonist and coloring assistant for clients including Cards Against Humanity, Lion Forge and Scholastic Books.

Today (14th May), Adult Swim USA has announced that Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law will be returning with a special episode which will air sometime in Autumn 2018. In the special, Harvey Birdman, the show’s titular character, gets appointed as the Attorney General of the United States by megalomaniac billionaire – President Phil Ken Sebben, however, Harvey needs to find a way to oust the president from public office. The show’s creators – Michael Ouweleen (also Chief Marketing Officer for Cartoon Network) and Erik Richter will be returning to produce the new special. The animated series – Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law aired on Adult Swim from 2000 to 2007 for a total of four seasons, the show follows former superhero Harvey Birdman who is now working as an attorney at a law firm along with other classic Hanna-Barbara characters. The character – Harvey Birdman originated from the late-1960’s Hanna-Barbera animated series – Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.

The special will also feature the show’s original voice acting cast, Gary Cole will reprise his role as Harvey Birdman, Stephen Colbert as President Phil Ken Sebben, John Michael Higgins as Mentok the Mindtaker, Paget Brewster as Birdgirl, Chris Edgerly as Peter Potamus, Peter MacNicol as X the Eliminator and Phil LaMarr as Black Vulcan.

The announcement of the special episode was made ahead of Turner’s annual upfront which will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York this Wednesday (16th May), along with the Harvey Birdman special, Adult Swim has already announced a seventy episode long-term renewal for hit animated sci-fi comedy series – Rick and Morty. Cartoon Network has already announced their upfront for 2018-2019 back in March, however the president of Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Adult Swim – Christina Miller will be at the upfront event. Also at the event will be, J.G. Quintel, the creator of Cartoon Network’s Regular Show and the upcoming animated series – Close Enough and also Olan Rogers – the creator of TBS’s and Adult Swim’s Final Space along with Tika Sumpter, the voice of Quinn in Final Space.

From The Turner USA Press Release: Harvey Birdman Named Attorney General

In a stunning announcement, even for this administration, megalomaniac billionaire President Phil Ken Sebben announced today that Harvey Birdman will be this country’s next Attorney General.

In his new role, it’s up to Harvey Birdman to find a way to remove President Phil Ken Sebben from office, before everyone starts to worry it’s more than the ridiculous plot to an animated show.

The proceedings are set for this fall at [adult swim].

Representing Harvey Birdman will be Gary Cole. The spokesperson (literally) for Phil Ken Sebben is Stephen Colbert. Mentok the Mindtaker is represented by John Michael Higgins. Paget Brewster is spokesperson for Birdgirl and Peter Potamus by Chris Edgerly, while X the Eliminator and Black Vulcan will be represented by Peter MacNicol and Phil LaMarr, respectively.

“This is a great day for our country and for no one else,” said Erik Richter, co-creator of Harvey Birdman. “It’s funny because it’s true. Wait, not funny because it’s true.” said co-creator Michael Ouweleen.

Harvey Birdman, Attorney General, a new half-hour animated special, is created and executive produced by Ouweleen and Richter, with Richard Ferguson-Hull and Evan Adler also serving as executive producers.

Fan favorite animated series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law aired on Adult Swim for from 2000 – 2007 for four seasons and the new special features the original voice cast.

Cartoon Network Offers New Scholarship to CalArts Animation Students

Cartoon Network are now offering merit-based scholarships for students studying at the internationally renowned arts and animation university – CalArts (California Institute of the Arts). Many CalArts graduates work in Hollywood’s animation industry and Cartoon Network is no exception. Top Cartoon Network talent, including Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack), Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends), Pendleton Ward (Adventure Time), Daniel Chong (We Bare Bears) and J.G. Quintel (Regular Show, Close Enough) all graduated from CalArts. Cartoon Network’s scholarship programme is now in its second year and will be awarded again later this year.

After a long relationship with CalArts, Cartoon Network are now offering an annual scholarship of $15,000 (USD) to two exceptionally talented students – Michelle Lam and Mariana Yovanovich. Michelle is completing her fourth year at the school and has previously interned at Cartoon Network, while international student, Mariana is in the last semester of her third year, the two students weren’t expecting a scholarship.

Regarding the new scholarship, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cartoon Network Studios – Brian Miller said:

“We tap into talent from everywhere, but a lot of the CalArts talent in particular has risen up to places of show creators like Genndy and Craig, and that list continues to expand with people like Pen Ward and J.G. Quintel (“Regular Show”), and further from there to Daniel Chong (“We Bare Bears”), and it just continues. We have this very long history of talent coming from CalArts. It was probably about 2015 when we started talking to them about a scholarship as a way for us to pay back for the great relationship and great talent we’ve received from the school. They came up with a proposal for the scholarship program, explained to us how it would work and we were completely on board. Now we’re about to enter the second year of the program. There’s no application process. What we do is nominate based on merit and people who have done, ideally, an internship at Cartoon Network. We have a very robust mentoring program, so we have a pretty intimate knowledge of what’s up with the students, and these two have been exceptional students.”

CalArts’ School of Film/Video Dean Leighton Pierce said:

“We had kind of an informal relationship (with Cartoon Network) for years. Many, many alums go to Cartoon Network, so we wanted to take the relationship a step further. He explained that there were a series of meetings to figure out what would be best for the students and Cartoon Network. It wasn’t like someone called and said “Let’s do this!” It’s more like we said, “Let’s meet and talk about how we can make this a more robust and solid relationship”, and it grew from there.”

After receiving the scholarship, Michelle said:

“I felt very honored because Cartoon Network was my first internship. Not only did the scholarship help me with tuition and continuing my time here at CalArts, but it felt like I was somewhat accepted by the industry, or that there is a chance or hope for me to enter an industry that I’ve dreamed of being a part of since I was a little kid”.

Mariana also said:

“Because I’m an international student, I don’t have many options for scholarships besides what the college can give me. For me, this was such a financial relief. I’m never quite sure if I’m going to be able to come back for another year. But the scholarship took care of her for this third year. I have another year to go, I think I will be able to come back for a fourth year and graduate. Fingers crossed.”

Regarding Mariana’s situation, Leighton Pierce also added:

“It’s really great when a student actually stays in the school because they’re able to get a scholarship. And it’s great that Cartoon Network supplied this for us.”

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